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Silica
Silica (specifically Gem Silica Facet-4L Cut-7XE) is a member of the Dominic Beach Gems, and a former Homeworld Aristocrat. As a Homeworld gem, Silica was tasked with scouting planetary systems in pursuit of those suitable for new gem colonies. After increasing pressure to find planets suitable for Kindergarten construction following the resource shortage of Era 2, and an incident involving her pearl, Silica fled Homeworld. Currently, she resides on Earth, and is unaffiliated with any group, aside from the Dominic Beach Gems. Personality Silica's personality has changed dramatically since her time on Homeworld. Before she fled Homeworld, Silica could be best described as naive, reserved, independent, and, to a degree, selfish. Due to her status as an elite gem, Silica apathetic toward those deemed beneath her and enjoyed a life of relative ease following her duties to a T. Following the ever-present Homeworld mentality, Silica was indifferent to the sufferings of organic life she may have happened to encounter on her missions. However, this soon changed after word of a rebellion led by a Rose Quartz reached Silica. Though she still remained loyal to Homeworld and carried out her duties, this event helped to open her eyes to the plight of "lower" gems as she began to treat them more as equals and challenged her previous views on the status of organic beings. As a high-ranking gem, conformity mattered less to Silica, as she would occasionally act in ways that deviated from the norm, whether be it in a self-interesting matter or to the benefit of the Gem Empire. One such example being her growing, but hidden, curiosity with organics. No longer treating them with the same disdain that was typical of Homeworld, Silica would occasionally mark planets otherwise suitable for gem colonization as unfit if only to spare the organic life already present, an act seen as traitorous given the resource shortage of Era2. As time went on, Silica continued to become more sympathetic. After Blue Diamond's mourning began to leave an impact on her quality of management, Silica attempted to cheer her up by surprising her with a planet dedicated to Pink's legacy. Touched by the gesture, Blue Diamond awarded Silica with a personal Pearl. Over time, Silica got to know her new Pearl and, given her egalitarian beliefs, began to forge a relationship beyond the master/servant role Homeworld designated them. However, Silica's superiors began to take notice of their bond and quickly labeled Silica's Pearl as defective. While Silica was on a mission, Pearl was taken and shattered. Devastated by the loss of her closest friend, Silica bubbled Pearl's gem shards and stored them in her gem so that Pearl would feel no pain. Finding it impossible to serve Homeworld any longer Silica fled, leaving behind her status and life of luxury. No longer associated with Homeworld, Silica sees all intelligent lifeforms (including Gems and Humans) as equal, though she has a hard time trusting new people and gems. Appearance Silica has pale cyan skin, teal eyes, and short light-blue hair which is almost always tied into a top-bun. Though slender, she is a relatively tall gem towering above Pearls and standing at around the same height as quartz soldiers. Her gem, located on her right shoulder, is an inverted kite-shape facet displayed through an opening on her sleeveless dress. History Silica was created for Blue Diamond during Era1, around 3,000 years before the start of Era2. As a Homeworld gem, Silica's life was simple and routine: tasked with determining if new planets found were suitable for gem colonization, she completed mission after mission with little deviation or fault. Furthermore, her status as a highly-elite gem entitled her to many luxuries she took for granted that many gems in lower-castes could only dream of. Silica went about her days with relatively no change until news of a rogue Rose Quartz spread among her rank. Though word of rebellion reached her, this insurgence had very little impact on her conduct as an upper-crust. However, it did plant the idea that all gems—regardless of caste—are deserving of fair treatment and respect. This mentality would later expand to include intelligent organic lifeforms to some degree—a scruple which would occasionally impact her assigned duties. Era2 proved to be a turbulent time for Silica and her peers, as well as the rest of the Gem Homeworld. With the loss of Pink Diamond, resource shortages served to greatly increase Silica's workload as stress to find resource-rich planets increased. This hardship was further compounded by Blue Diamond's mourning, which soon led to poor management and confusion with regard to Silica's assignments. In an attempt to cheer Blue Diamond up, Silica dedicated an Earth-like planet to Pink Diamond's legacy, filling it with gardens and monuments in honor of her conquest. Deeply touched, Blue Diamond awarded Silica with her own personal Pearl. Shattered Hopes Silica and her pearl's relationship started out typical of what Homeworld society would expect. For hundreds of years this continued; however, Silica found it harder and harder to treat another sentient being as an object to be had and began treating her as an equal. With time, the two grew closer as friends. Their relationship continued to grow stronger as time progressed until the two grew comfortable enough to fuse in private. Eventually, others began to take note of Silica and Pearl's close bond and Pearl was promptly labeled defective for stretching her role as a servant. While Silica was off-planet on an assignment, Pearl was taken shattered. When Silica returned to Homeworld and requested to see Pearl, she learned of her fate and was promised a new replacement pearl. However, Silica refused to accept another Pearl and instead gathered and bubbled Pearl's gem shards and stored them within her gem. The loss of Pearl caused Silica to become completely disillusioned with the Homeworld mentality. No longer willing to serve a society which destroys life and to serve a hypocritical diamond, Silica came up with a plan to escape. However, Silica knew that if she simply left, she'd be tracked and punished as Gem Silicas are vital for the colonization of new worlds: she had to make her disappearance seem accidental, so she continued to follow her duties and keep up appearances until the right opportunity presented itself. And eventually, it did, as a malfunctioning drop-ship that was improperly marked for repair. Silica boarded the ship during her next assignment, removed the ship's navigation and tracking systems, and set course for a random, previously-mapped, planet: Earth. Pale Blue Dot As Silica neared the pale blue planet, she was unable to initialize the landing gear and crash-landed on Dominic Beach. When she reformed—without any Diamond insignias—she was met by Larimar. Larimar and Silica had a near-antaonistic relationship at first, with Larimar seeing Silica as a threat to Earth and her home. However, Silica was uninterested in fighting, and continued to avoid Larimar while fixing her ship. Eventually, it became clear that Silica was uninterested in fighting and was no longer involved with Homeworld, and the two were able to talk and later became friends. Silica decided to stay on Earth with Larimar and, later, the other Dominic Beach gems. Relationships Larimar Larimar and Silica met shortly after Silica's ship crash-landed on Earth near Dominic Beach. At first, their relationship was near-antagonistic as Larimar initially saw Silica as a threat to the life on Dominic Beach and was prepared to fight her. However Silica, not interested in fighting (primarily due to Larimar's hydrokinesis) having defected from Homeworld, instead distanced herself from Larimar as she attempted to fix her ship. After it became clear that Silica was uninterested in fighting or harming any of the life on Earth, Larimar approached Silica and the two were finally able to talk. Tensions cooled, the two soon after became friends and Silica decided to stay on Earth for the foreseeable future. Ametrine Ametrine and Silica met on Earth after Ametrine defected from her Aquamarine. At first, Silica assumed Ametrine was a guard sent by Homeworld to retrieve her and, as such, Silica reacted by attacking and poofing her. However, after her supervising Aquamarine came to retrieve and reprimand the defective Ametrine, Silica realized her mistake and—after she and Larimar poofed the Aquamarine—Silica unbubbled Ametrine, allowing her to form. Understandably, Ametrine was upset with Silica for poofing her, but quickly forgave her after Silica apologized. Following this, Ametrine and Silica quickly became best friends. Due to her defectiveness and years of neglect, Ametrine often feels self-conscious about her identity. During moments of doubt, Silica often comforts and encourages Ametrine. Hematite Hematite and Silica met on Earth sometime after Silica crash-landed and met Larimar. The two consider eachother friends, and Silica is protective of Hematite when she finds herself in danger. Axinite Obsidian Fusions Pink Moonstone Pink Moonstone is the fusion between Silica and Ametrine. Silica's ability to stay rational and level-headed combined with Ametrine's easygoing and friendly nature creates a stable fusion who cares deeply and is protective of those around her. Their bond is strong enough to hold them together in moments of high-stress and during disagreements. Despite the fact that neither Silica or Ametrine are combat-focused gems, Pink Moonstone is a fairly powerful fusion. *'Angel Wings': Ametrine's levitation abilities combine with Silica's enhanced-speed and forcefields to create protective hard-light wings. Pink Moonstone can create however many pairs of these wings as desired, and the more wings she has active, the faster Pink Moonstone is able to fly. When in danger, Pink Moonstone is able to wrap herself in her wings which protect her in a similar manner to Silica's forcefield. *'Shuriken Bomb': Ametrine's repulsion-bomb ability combines with Silica's haloscreens to create shuriken bombs. These shuriken bombs appear as Ametrine's repulsion bombs, but once they are in close proximity to their target, the shelling shatters and sends shurikens in every direction. These shurikens have a similar appearance to Silica's halo-screens and are capable of dealing high amounts of damage to crowds. Seraphinite Seraphinite is the fusion between Silica, Ametrine, Larimar, and Hematite. Though they get along well as a team, when fused they create a rather unstable fusion. Amazonite Turquoise Aventurine Abilities Common Abilities In addition to standard Gem abilities which all gems possess, all Gem Silicas share abilities related to their designed purpose on Homeworld. Silica herself is no exception to this. *'Heightened Memory and Analytical Skills': In order to efficiently produce reports of the planets they visit, Silicas have an excellent memory and analytical skills. *'Pocket Dimension': Some assignments may require Silicas to retrieve samples of the planets they visit. In order to provide an easy way of gathering such samples, Silicas are capable of storing items within their gemstones, similar to Pearls. *'Hologram Projection': Silicas can project holographic screens—similar to Zircons and the Limb-Enhancers found on Peridots—to catalog, document, and record core aspects of a planet's composition. Finally, Silicas are capable of displaying memories and past events through their halo-screens. These projections are sourced from the Silica's gemstone, and multiple projections may be used at once. *'Enhanced Speed': Silicas need to be able to traverse great distances in short periods of time. As such, Silicas are capable of running very long distances in only mere moments. In addition to enhancing job productivity, this ability also allows Silicas to easily escape danger. *'Forcefield Generation': Being non-combative gems, Silicas lack any sort of offensive weapons. Additionally, and to their detriment, Silicas are rather fragile gems, and have comparatively low poof-resistance. To remedy this, Silicas are capable of producing a small personal forcefield which is able to block or deflect most forms of physical damage. Silicas can create a forcefield around themselves or another gem, object, or person but may only have one active at any given moment. These forcefields, however, are difficult to maintain for long periods of time and do not protect against sound/light based attacks (such as the Corrupting Light). *'Hastened Regeneration': In the unfortunate situation a Silica is poofed (which isn't all too uncommon given their low poof-resistance), Silicas are capable of regenerating much faster than other Gems. This is especially true if the Silica decides to retain the same form as previous. Unique Abilities Silica lacks a gem weapon so, in combat situations, she relies heavily on repurposing her common abilities. Because Silicas are meant to be non-combative gems on Homeworld, Silica only began experimenting with her power-set after she defected. *'Smoke Screen': By using massive amounts of halo-screens, Silica can improvise a sort of smokescreen to conceal her location or the locations of others. Because there is no limit on how many halo-screens Silica can keep active at once, Silica can easily overwhelm opponents with absurd quantities of screens, effectively blinding them until the screens are destroyed. *'Screen Fling': A second use of her halo-screens allows Silica to throw them in a manner similar to cards or frisbees. Her screens have partial-mass, meaning they can cause (albeit limited) damage toward an opponent if the screen is thrown fast enough. Using her speed-manipulation abilities, Silica can throw many screens in rapid succession, potentially causing damage if enough hit their target. This ability isn't terribly effective against either gem or organic lifeforms due to the screens being too weak to cause substantial injury; however, it does make for a decent intimidation tactic or for use as a last resort. *'Lancing': Though the enhanced speed Silica gems possess is to allow them to escape danger, Silica has figured out ways to this ability offensively. By running full-speed at an opponent gem while carrying a sufficiently sharp or pointed object (such as a lance, spear, or sword) she may be able to deal enough damage poof or impair her opponent, so long as she avoids getting hit whilst moving toward her target. Given that Silicas have the ability to store objects within their gems, Silica often stores a variety of melee weapons suitable for this attack within her gemstone, effectively acting as a makeshift gem-weapon. *'Forced Field': Silicas are capable of generating a protective forcefield around themselves or other nearby beings. These forcefields are capable of moving along with the being it surrounds or, instead, moving only at the behest of the Silica controlling it. Silica has learned that by surrounding an opponent with her forcefield, she can entrap them and move them freely until she relinquishes control or until the forcefield is destroyed. Though her forcefields have durability, they often last long enough—even while being constantly attacked—for Silica to forcibly move an opponent to a location that is more advantageous for her. This ability can also be expanded to assist her allies as she could surround a vulnerable person with her forcefield—protecting them while she moves them to a safer location. Gemology Gem Silica, also known as chrysocolla chalcedony, is the rarest variety of translucent blue-green chalcedony and is not actually a form of chrysocolla at all (despite its alternate name)https://www.gemselect.com/other-info/gem-silica.php. Gem Silica is the byproduct of copper deposits and forms as cavity linings near copperhttps://geology.com/gemstones/gem-silica/. In fact, these copper deposits are what give Gem Silica its saturated blue-green color: Copper Salts mix with the crystal lattice of clear chalecedony and stain ithttps://www.gemselect.com/other-info/gem-silica.php. Gem Silica receives the name "chrysocolla chalcedony" due to its similar appearance to copper-stained chrysocolla. However, Gem Silica, unlike chrysocolla, has a Mohs hardness of 7 (rather than 2 for chrysocolla) making it durable enough for use in jewelryhttps://www.gemselect.com/other-info/gem-silica.php. Despite this, Gem Silica is very rarely used for this purpose due to its low supply and high value: Inclusion-less Gem Silica often sells for above $200 a carathttps://www.ajsgem.com/articles/gem-silica-or-chrysocolla-chalcedony.html-0. Gemstone Trivia *She will try mostly anything. ONCE. * Silica has her own dropship which she pilots herself, however she cannot drive a human car. * In her fusions, Silica tends to emphasize elements of other gems, rather than add her own unique elements. * Although Silica gems poof easily, their gemstones are more resistant to shattering and cracking than most other gems. Media |-|Concept Art = 2ndHandGrief.png|Silica affected by Blue's sadness wave after news of Pink's shattering is delivered PinkMoonstoneFusion.png|Pink Moonstone - Silica and Ametrine's fusion SilicaRef_Scared.png|Silica Ref sheet (Timeline inaccurate) SilicaGemSheet2.png|Old Ref Sheet SilicaAlone.png|Silica behind her gem SilicaGem.png|A previous Silica reformation |-|Friends' Art = SPOILER_unknown.png|Silica by Evalinge SILICA.png|Genesis Silica by Evalinge Saveh.jpeg|Silica and Pearl by Larimarin Bakinotsavepearltm.png|Silica grieving Pearl by Larimarin Ametrine 2 by Larimar.png|Silica and Ametrine by Larimarin Gemssketch.png|Silica with Larimar and another gem by Fishoni Silica.png|Silica unamused by Fishoni Silicateacheshematiteaboutfire.png|Silica (unfortunately) teaching Hematite about heat-treating by Fishoni SilicaScreenSketch.png|Sketch of Silica with her halo-screens by Fishoni SilicaChibiSketch.png|Chibi Silica sketch by Fishoni |-|Misc Art = PearlSilica.png|Silica's Pearl Unknown_(1).png|Silica Pearl by Fishoni Hoesquad.png|Silica with other Dominic Beach Gems SILEYECA.png|Sil-eye-ca Unknown.png|Sketch of Silica and other Dominic beach gems by Fishoni Category:Characters Category:BakiDance Category:Blue Court Category:Dominic Beach